It’s OK If Your Readers Cry

If you’ve ever feared that your manuscript is too “real” for children, or if you feel the urge to write about a sanitized reality in order to protect young readers, remember this: kids learn how to navigate the world through their books. And if they are experiencing pain, seeing that pain acknowledged in a story helps them know they are not alone. But you should really hear this from two of the greatest children’s book writers of our time. Matt de la Pena, in his essay “Why We Shouldn’t Shield Children From Darkness” for Time magazine, and Kate DiCamillo’s response, “Why Children’s Books Should Be a Little Sad“, beautifully articulate how a little sadness in a children’s book teaches readers that they can, indeed, bear the burdens life may give them.

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Narrative Nonfiction: Making Facts into a Story

By Guest Author

by Natasha Wing

 

When editors say they are looking for narrative nonfiction, what does that mean?

 

Narrative nonfiction is creative nonfiction yet while both are fact-based, narrative nonfiction is also about storytelling, not just presenting facts in a clever way. It gives people, places and events meaning and emotional content – without making anything up. If you make up dialog or alter facts, then it becomes fiction.

 

The primary goal of the narrative nonfiction writer is to communicate information, like a reporter, but to shape it in a way that reads like fiction.

 

So how do you do that?

 

– Set the tone with opening images or word usage or even a juicy quote. My book, An Eye for Color, starts out: “Josef Albers saw art in the simplest things.” I wanted to set the tone that this story was about art, but simple art that kids could relate to. As the story unfolded, I connected to that idea of keeping it simple.

 

– Voice. Avoid the dull, droning textbook voice that makes you feel like you’re reading a reference book. Perky, fast-paced and humorous works better to capture your reader right from the start.

 

– Don’t give away the point you’re trying to make, build up to it. Use obstacles and rising stakes. Ask yourself, if this thing doesn’t happen, then what?

 

– Use poetic language rather than dry statements. Using my new biography, When Jackie Saved Grand Central, as an example, I wanted to say that Jackie was mad and she wanted to join the protestors so I wrote: “Like a powerful locomotive, Jackie led the charge to preserve the landmark she and New York City loved.” This language ties into the train theme.

 

– Use active verbs! Trim out phrases like: decided to. For example, She decided to build another model. Change to: She built another model.

 

– Build your world or era. But do it quickly! Don’t spend a lot of opening text on setting up the year, the location, or the era. Here’s how the Jackie story starts out: “When Jackie became First Lady of the United States in 1961, she moved into the White House with President John F. Kennedy and their children.” Nuff said. I didn’t have to tell you when Jackie was born, or how many kids she had and their names, or what number president John Kennedy was, or that the White House was in Washington, D.C.

 

– Find tension. Does your main character have a competitor who is trying to beat your guy to the patent office? Is the event something that could change the world? Is the main character full of doubt which could sabotage everything?

 

– Find “aha” moments. Did your character have a breakthrough on her invention? Did the artist discover something he’d never seen before in his paintings that made him follow a new path? Did your character get an idea while observing ladybugs that helped solve his problem?

 

– Is there an emotional journey for the main character? How does she succeed or grow? This works great for inventor stories. Why did the person want to invent something in the first place? Did he have a sick mother? Was a machine too cumbersome? During his journey did he ever want to give up? Did he have a breakthrough, or a break down? Did he get the recognition he wanted, or choose to live alone in a cabin instead?

 

– Is there a kid-friendly or universal theme? Historic preservation is a tough theme to sell to younger kids, so I had to make it about saving buildings people love to use rather than pontificating about the value of restoring the architectural integrity of a landmark. See the difference?

 

– Make us care about the person or object or invention. In my Jackie book, the biggest breakthrough in my revisions came when I started looking at the object that Jackie was trying to save – Grand Central Terminal – as something people cared about. Rather than just describing the building, I showed examples where people attended dances there, where politicians gave speeches, and friends met for lunch. That way the reader could have an emotional attachment to the building and therefore care if it was going to be destroyed or not.

 

– Limit use of facts. This sounds odd when you’re writing nonfiction, but too many facts can drag down the poetic flow of the text. Choose the facts that support your theme or opinion about the topic. Interesting nuggets that are visual or help children relate to the topic are keepers.

 

And don’t pile them up in one giant paragraph. Sprinkle them throughout the story, and use quotes to break up stretches of text. Visually, quotes give the eye something different to see, therefore re-investing the reader in your story.

 

If you still think some facts are pertinent, put them in the endnotes instead.

 

When you’re writing narrative nonfiction, always keep in mind, is it kid friendly and am I telling a story? Then weave those facts into your story so that readers will learn while also being entertained.

 

Before you start writing keep these things in mind:

 

How can you connect kids to your topic? For example, how does an invention affect their lives today?

 

Does your story have an unusual slant?

 

Is your biography of someone not heard about or someone kids should know about?

 

Check to see what other books have been done on that topic and how the author treated the telling and incorporated the information. Check out their sidebars and endnotes, too.

 

Is yours different and fresh?

 

Has new information come out on that topic to warrant a new book? Such as when a new president is elected. Or a new technology invented. How does this new bit of information make what’s out there obsolete – the topic could use a freshening up.

 

Has the publisher you work with already published that topic? Then don’t submit to them.

 

Did you publish a chapter book on a topic that would make a good picture book? If so, choose one through line and simplify and use poetic language. Choose one thing the person did and focus on that.

 

Is there an anniversary coming up in 4-5 years that you can hook your topic to? Start gathering research now.

 

Make sure you document where every fact is from so you can easily find it when you need to revise with an editor, or when you need proof where you got a quote.

 

Keep a list of experts you contacted so they can vet your manuscript before you submit it.

 

Natasha Wing is a best-selling author who has been writing for 25 years. She is best known for her Night Before series, but also has written several narrative nonfictions. When Jackie Saved Grand Central: The True Story of Jacqueline Kennedy’s Fight for an American Icon (HMH Books for Young Readers) received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus.

This is a post from writeforkids.org. Read the original post: Narrative Nonfiction: Making Facts into a Story

Grand Slam Debut for Picture Book Author Nancy Churnin

By Guest Author

by PJ McIlvaine

 

This is an excerpt from an interview that appeared in the March 2017 issue of Children’s Book Insider.

 

From theater critic to debut picture book author may seem a bit of a stretch, but Nancy Churnin hit one out of the park with her biography of a celebrated athlete whose passion and persistence kept him going in the face of resistance and rejection. Churnin had that same determination to bring the William Hoy story to life. Hoy never gave up, and neither did Churnin.

 

PJ McIlvaine: You have quite the writing pedigree: a masters degree in journalism, currently a newspaper theater critic, and now a critically acclaimed picture book author for your debut nonfiction picture book The William Hoy Story: How a Deaf Baseball Player Changed the Game (Albert Whitman & Company, 2016). How did that journey evolve?

 

Nancy Churnin: I’ve always loved to write and have published poetry and short stories before turning full time to journalism, where I am grateful for the opportunity to write every day. One day, when I was sitting at my desk at The Dallas Morning News, I read about a high school in Garland that was doing a play called The Signal Season of Dummy Hoy. I read that it was about a man, named William Hoy, who was deaf and introduced signs to baseball so he could play the game he loved. I was fascinated! I wrote a story about the play and received a thank you note from a man in Ohio. I wrote back “You’re welcome, but why is someone in Ohio interested in a play in a high school in Garland, Texas?” Steve Sandy wrote back that he is a deaf man and it is his life’s dream to see William Hoy in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. We kept emailing back and forth and the more he taught me about Hoy, the more I realized he was right. William Hoy deserved to be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, where he would be the first deaf man honored there.

 

PJ: Where did the inspiration for the Hoy story come from? Are you a baseball fan? With a growing emphasis on diverse books, how easy, or difficult, was it to find a home?

 

NC: I was trying to figure out how I could help Steve achieve his dream. I asked myself who are the most powerful people I know. And almost without thinking, I realized: children! I thought if I wrote a children’s book about Hoy, the children would see how deserving he was and they would help by writing letters and drawing pictures on William Hoy’s behalf to the Hall of Fame. Steve loved the idea! He is a friend of the Hoy family and he shared images of family photographs and letters and he educated me about the prejudice faced by deaf Americans, particularly in the 19th century when Hoy made such an amazing impact in the major leagues. Of course there was only one problem with my brilliant idea. I had never sold a children’s book. I knew it was a great story and I wrote it and I rewrote it and I rewrote it. But it was not until I realized I needed help and started joining writing groups and workshops that I started to get a handle on the craft.

 

I am a baseball fan, but I am even more a fan of folks with dreams who don’t give up and make the world a better place. I had many rejections for early versions of the story, but once I got it right, my amazing agent Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary found William Hoy a good home with Wendy McClure of Albert Whitman & Company. Karen loved William Hoy right away and so did Wendy!

 

What’s fascinating for me, looking back, is that it stands up as a good newspaper article. It just took me a long time — 10 years! — to wrap my head around how different a successful picture book is from a good newspaper article! Also interesting is that I used the very incident I started the article with in the book, but at a different place in the story, in a different context, as part of the build-up to William’s frustration, and the inspiration for his big idea that changed the game.

 

“Imagine you are standing at home plate, your bat poised, waiting

for the very first pitch of your very first major league game.

 

Are you excited? Sure! But imagine that instead of the cheers of

the crowd, you hear … silence. Because you’re deaf.

 

That first ball whizzes by. You think it was a ball. But was it a

strike? The umpire makes no gestures to clue you in. You can’t hear

the call, so you try to read his lips.

 

And while you’re trying to read his lips, the pitcher throws the

next ball before you’re ready. On purpose.

 

Then, after a few more pitches, you’re left standing at the plate,

not being told you’ve struck out, so everyone can laugh at you,

while you’re slowly figuring it out.

 

That’s what happened to William Ellsworth Hoy, one of the first

deaf and mute players in major league baseball. “

(Dallas Morning News, February 5, 2003, by Nancy Churnin).

 

PJ: When you decided to write the William Hoy story, did you have to get the approval and/or rights from the Hoy family?

 

NC: Steve Sandy was the official spokesperson for the Hoy family. The Hoy family gave him access to family photos and letters that he shared with me. The Hoy family has been delighted with the book, which has been a special joy to me. William’s great grandsons Adam and Cain Hoy are Facebook friends of mine and I have treasured kind words I have heard from various members of the Hoy family.

 

PJ: From writing the first draft to eventual publisher acceptance, how long did that take?

 

NC: I am so embarrassed to admit how long it took from first draft to publisher acceptance. I first wrote The Signal Season of Dummy Hoy in 2003!!! I had so much hubris when I began. I figured that since I am already a professional writer — a journalist — how hard could it be to write a picture book? So many many drafts, so many many submissions, so many many rejections before I realized I needed help. I actively sought it out in 2013 by signing up for 12 X 12 and Mira Reisberg’s class, and Susannah Hill’s class and PiBoIdMo challenge and Children’s Book Insider and Rate Your Story and Kristen Fulton’s Non-Fiction Archaeology and SCBWI and a Dallas SCBWI conference and critique groups galore and RhyPoIdMo and any group I could find that would have me. Once I started listening and studying and absorbing and practicing the craft, things moved along. Seven months after I signed up for 12 X 12 in July 2013 I signed with my agent Karen Grencik and she sold The William Hoy Story in the fall of 2014. Then, everything was quiet until we started the editing process in spring of 2015. The book came out in March 2016 and in this very same year, Karen sold three more books for me.

 

PJ: Do you have any tips or advice for staying inspired and passionate while writing? How do you keep going in the face of rejection and disappointment?

 

NC: What keeps me passionate is remembering WHY I’m writing. I believe we are here in this world to make a positive difference in the lives of others. Every time I share The William Hoy Story with kids and see eyes light up, every time I feel a wall coming down between kids who are hearing and deaf, every time a parent or teacher tells me that this is a child’s favorite book because that child has a challenge or feels different, William’s story inspires them to believe that their challenge or difference may be their gift too, that is everything.

 

PJ McIlvaine is a published writer/produced screenwriter/kid lit author/blogger/journalist. In a former life she was a great baker of Europe. PJ’s websites are http://ift.tt/2osgWzM and http://ift.tt/2o03G8Q. She is represented by Jen Corkill Hunt of The Booker Albert Literary Agency.

This is a post from writeforkids.org. Read the original post: Grand Slam Debut for Picture Book Author Nancy Churnin